NetEase, the company which operates the game in China, has blocked new users from registering while it applies for a licence to run WoW's expansion pack, Burning Crusade. Which, for some reason, it didn't go ahead and secure when it got the rights to World of Warcraft itself.

That means no new World of Warcraft registrations at all for a week starting next Monday. Just a week. Least, it's supposed to be for a week. Knowing the way this situation has played out over the past year, a week could be just the beginning.